Product Review: Kiwi Crate

By Richie Ann Ashcraft

Kiwi Crate offered to let the Ashcraft clan kid-test one of their craft boxes.

We tried to the Valentine box which included everything to make 25 homemade pop-up Valentines.

As you can see, when I say "included everything," I really mean it. The box has new markers, a glue stick, jeweled stickers, die-cut designs, and blank cards. Plus, instructions on how to assemble the cards. The fact the box includes everything is one of my favorite things about this product. I HATE when I buy something, come home and have to scramble for some unknown item like double-sided tape or sheet magnets. Maybe some of you have a well-stocked craft box, and believe me I've tried to keep up on with our supplies, but we use them so fast that the craft box is usually just a bunch of odds and ends, with all the good stuff used up. There was no scramble, because everything except scissors was already in the box. AWESOME! (said in my high-pitched Oprah voice.)

Valentine-making is pretty straight forward. I'm good with simple and so were the kids. The die-cuts had white spaces to mark where the jewel stickers should go, like a heart on the Teddy Bear's chest, etc. Soren shirked the rules and put eyeballs on the robot's fingers. Scribbling was encouraged. There wasn't anything in the process that couldn't be done by the 3-years-old to the 7-year-olds.

We ended up with these.

I asked Violet, 4, what she thought of the Kiwi Crate. "It's beautiful and I love it because that's what you're supposed to do on Valentine's Day, LOVE it," she said.

Well, there ya go.

But, there is more to this product. At KiwiCrate.com, you can purchase individual kits like we tried, OR you can sign up for a bimonthly subscription where you'll receive two project crates each month. That's pretty awesome. Their projects range from artistic to scientific. They've won multiple toy of the year awards and I can see why.

As an added bonus, I found their blog to have tons of free ideas to keep kids busy on a rainy day. I'm a fan and can't wait for the next birthday to come up!